# Have we invented any new ways to write down choreography in the last 35 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 19, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721 "2013-05-19T04:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721/1 "2013-05-19T04:35:01Z")
So choreography notation came up on Twitter, and of course I turned to [the best source I could find](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/359/how-are-dances-written-down-and-passed-along). But that column is older than I am, and technology marches on. How about the technology to transcribe choreography? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721/2 "2013-05-19T23:58:45Z")
I’ll bring this to Cecil’s attention, he might consider an update (if there’s anything new to report, and if it’s not available in other places.) Any of the Teeming M’s have any idea? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721/3 "2013-05-20T02:18:05Z")
Well, there’s the Wiki article on it: [www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance\_notation](http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_notation) Seems to me, though, dance notation was only really important before the advent of cheap videography. And once pre-video pieces written in a dance-notation form are reconstructed, performed, and videorecorded, then it’s pretty much a dead language. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721/4 "2013-05-20T04:29:16Z")
Last I heard, dance notation still helps. Indeed, as far as I know, the best solution known at present is video _plus_ notation _plus_ one or more dancers who were there. I’m not a dancer, but I do live on the fringes of show business, and usually hear about stuff. Of course if you have one dancer, a bare stage, and five cameras (or six cameras and a glass floor), you probably don’t need anything but the video, but those are pretty harsh limits. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721/5 "2013-05-20T05:19:23Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Of course if you have one dancer, a bare stage, and five cameras (or six cameras and a glass floor), you probably don’t need anything but the video, but those are pretty harsh limits. Or a bunch of ping pong balls and motion capture. Then with an animation rig (computer program) you can display and play the score with computerized figures dancing along. You can ‘skin’ them with any body type you’d like. But since dance at this level is such a rarefied form, might be difficult to find the resources to make that all happen. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-invented-any-new-ways-to-write-down-choreography-in-the-last-35-years/658721/6 "2013-05-20T14:09:08Z")
the notation is a interpreted short data set. video/film is an uninterpreted long data set. digitization of motion capture would eventually, provided on the reduction, result in uninterpreted medium data set. Urinal cake eroding.